Big news! A woman from Victoria who recently completed surgery in Melbourne was lucky to be the world`s first patient to receive a revolutionary new drug to treat epilepsy.
Epilepsy is an interruption of normal electrochemical effects in the brain and can lead to seizures.
Neurologists in Melbourne`s St Vincent Hospital have recently begun clinical trials of a new drug in patients with epilepsy. The first patient in the clinical trial was Natalie Kellalea, 27 years old, from Numurkah., northern Victoria.
It is reported that the patient Natalie almost daily symptoms of epileptic seizures, resulting in her very sleepiness, completely unable to leave the home.
Surgery director Wayne Ng, neurosurgeon Kristian Bullus and Michael Murphy performed the operation, in which they used a pump drill to inject drugs directly into the patient`s brain.
It also means that the drugs will no longer penetrate the patient`s entire body like oral drugs, and are likely to have fewer side effects.
The clinical trial of the drug was led by Dr Mark Cook, director of neurology at St Vincent Hospital, who said:
"it will not only affect people with epilepsy, it will also affect many other patients with brain diseases, which can be used to inject drugs directly into the brain."
Professor Cook said the trial was still in its early stages and that there was still a lot of unknowns to explore for the researchers.
"We don`t know what the brain will react to these drugs, how to metabolize these drugs, and how long it can last.", he said.
